Tag Archives: Ice Cream

Aw Shucks

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Well hi there. Did everyone have a wonderful weekend? I surely did. It was fairly low key which was just what I needed.

In case you missed it, here are the weekend’s posts which include two zucchini recipes!

Friday: Date at Pittsburgh Blue

Saturday: Garlic Parmesan Zucchini Pasta

Sunday: Vegetarian Mexican Lasagna

As you’ve probably noticed, I usually recap the previous day’s endeavors in my posts rather than on the day of. With that being said, I will now be recapping Sunday for you. Here we go!

Breakfast

It was time to experiment with an old favorite, the Greek yogurt fruit bowl. A breakfast that I seriously ate day after day for a good month or two before moving on to my next obsession which I believe was the overnight chia seed bowl.

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In this beautiful bowl: raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, Fage 0% Greek yogurt drizzled with honey. YESsssA!

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The good news, is that this sat perfectly well in my belly.

After breakfast we did our usual Sunday gig with coupons and grocery stores. When we got home at 11:00, I was ready for lunch. I made myself a strawberry salad with avocado, black beans, feta cheese, and honey mustard dressing.

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I loved every bit of it as usual.

As I was making my lunch, Dana was busy experimenting with a SCD tortilla so that he could make himself a burrito. I found a recipe a while ago and have wanted to try it but haven’t gotten around to it. He got to work on making the SCD tortilla which was actually pretty easy. It took a total of about 17 minutes.

The recipe was:

  • 1/3 cup almond flour
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon cumin
  • 3 Tablespoons water

Basically you just mix all the ingredients together and bake in a well-greased pan for 15 minutes at 300°.

Here was his burrito. Not too shabby!

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In the afternoon we cleaned the house, I did some food prep, and we ran a handful or errands in record time. Then we headed to my in-laws to visit with them for a bit.

Dinner

By the time we got home it was nearly time for dinner, so once again I found myself in the kitchen (I really do enjoy food prep btw so this isn’t a big deal usually; only when I feel like I’m LIVING in the kitchen is when I get bothered by it).

On the menu was a very simple meal of grilled corn on the cob and bison burgers. When we went to the Farmer’s Market a couple of weeks ago we bought a pound of farm fresh ground bison and have had it in the freezer since then. It was time to give it a taste.

I got to shucking the corn. Is that not the best word? Shucking.

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We seasoned the bison burgers simply with Worcestershire sauce, onion powder, salt and pepper.

Dinner was so easy and so delicious. This was my first corn on the cob this summer because it was not allowed on the SCD, but since I have modified the diet, I am allowing myself to enjoy it, and that I did.

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Something happened after dinner…two Dairy Queen blizzards just showed up at our house and it just so happens that we both LOVE DQ. I wasn’t going to let this summery treat go to waste. :wink: I loved every bite of this double fudge cookie dough blizzard.

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I will be cooling it again on the ice cream front, hopefully. It is just so refreshing and lovable in the summer I can’t help myself! 

Did everyone watch the Olympic’s closing ceremony last night? I turned into my 12 year old self as soon as Spice Girls hit the stage. Spice up your life! Loved it.

Now we all know it’s Monday, and in lieu of Monday, I have another terrible joke for you courtesy of this site.

Q: Why did the cowboy adopt a wiener dog?

A: He wanted to get a long little doggy.

Date at Pittsburgh Blue

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Happy Friday to you all!

Last night, Dana and I had a date night. We still had a gift card from our wedding to a chain of restaurants in the area, and it was burning a whole in my pocket.

The chain of restaurants is called Parasole and among their restaurants, we chose Pittsburgh Blue Steakhouse which specializes in duh, steak, but also has a great variety of seafood.

We got all dolled up, had our own happy hour at home with a glass of wine, before heading out the door to the restaurant.

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Moose wanted in on the photo shoot. I want to frame this one below. How stinking beautiful is he??

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He made sure to smile for this one…

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We told him that if dogs were allowed at the restaurant we would so let him come with, but no can do. Rules are rules. Sorry, Moose. Winking smile

While we contemplated our dinner orders, we both ordered a glass of Zinfandel which was perfectly smooth and slightly sweet. By far my favorite wine.

They also brought out a bread basket which I had originally said I was going to pass on, but changed my mind about 7 minutes later. Boy am I glad I did. The bread loaf was made up of 4 large rolls that were incredibly soft on the inside, and the outside had a light crust brushed with garlic butter and sea salt. OH MY. I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

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For dinner I ordered the seafood cobb salad. The salad started with a bed of romaine lettuce drizzled with lemon vinaigrette, and then was piled high with these toppings:

Left to right: fresh lobster, tomatoes, chives, hard-boiled egg, citrus shrimp, cheese, bacon, avocado, and fresh crab.

What an awesome salad. I ate 80% of it and was pretty proud of my accomplishment.

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Dana ordered the prime rib which to me is the most unappetizing thing ever. I’m just not much of a meat person as you may well know by now. He really enjoyed it!

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We also ordered a side of asparagus which were the bomb.

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Although I was feeling pleasantly full after dinner, I really wanted to finish date night with something sweet. I had the bright idea to stop at Whole Foods on the way home and get some gelato.

2 scoops: 1 scoop chocolate brownie and 1 scoop salted caramel.

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Are you kidding me? My second glimpse of heaven that night. I especially loved the salted caramel.

It had been way too long since we have had a date night like this. It was perfect. I loved spending such a nice evening with my hubby. Thanks Brett and Krystle for the great wedding gift!

I hope everyone has a great Friday! My favorite day of the week. Catch up with you all later!

I Know My ABC’s

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I got this idea from my gal pal Kalkal and thought it would be a good time. I changed it up a tad and came up with this! Have fun.

A is for Age: 26

B is for favorite Breakfast currently: Overnight Chia Seed Yogurt Bowl

C is for frequent Cravings: peanut butter and chocolate

D is for Date night: I love quiet date nights where we make a nice dinner together, play games and go out for ice cream.

E is for favorite kind of exercise: Man, I love it all. I really enjoy Zumba and am learning to love running.

F is for irrational Fear: big spiders

G is for Gross food: slimy, chewy fishy tasting seafood (I like non slimy, chewy, or fishy tasting seafood though)

H is for Happy thoughts: vacation, family, babies, puppies, ice cream

I is for something Important: family, friends and happiness

J is for current Jam: Welch’s Grape Natural Spread. Oh, you mean jam like music? Probably a song too embarrassing to mention.

K is for Kids: No kids for me yet but in the future, yes. I love kids.

L is for favorite Lunch: PB banana wrap with cinnamon

M is for most recent way you spent your Money: Underwater camera for our trip

N is for something you Need: full body massage (I still have a massage gift card from the wedding but want to use it post half-marathon!)

O is for Occupation: Registered Dietitian

P is for Pet Peeve: I feel bad when I think about this question because I have a lot of pet peeves. The worst though…when people are late.

Q is for a Quote:

R is for something Random about you: I have to make sure all of the wrinkles are out of my pillow case before I go to sleep

S is for favorite healthy Snack: peanut butter and banana or trail mix

T is for favorite Treat: ice cream (is that my third time mentioning ice cream?)

U is for something that makes you Unique: I was hospitalized with a kidney stone when I was 16 years old

V is for favorite Vegetable: sugar snap peas

W is for my Worst hairdo: in 5th and 6th grade I would sport the princess leia buns…you know, like these. Except, not so large and not covering my ears. Little bun buns.

X is for X-rays you’ve had: dentist, wisdom teeth removal, and when I cut my arm on a broken wine glass.

Y is for favorite movie from Youth: Wizard of Oz, Willy Wonka

Z is for your time Zone: central

There you have it. The ABC’s of Melanie.

Unconventional Dinner

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I ended up making yesterday a complete “rest” day (as for workouts that is). No workout yesterday. It felt strange for a work week because I typically don’t take rest days during the week, but I have been so extremely tired lately and have really favored the sleep.

For lunch yesterday I made myself one of my favorites: peanut butter banana wrap. I prepared the PB2 with water as usual but then also added honey and cinnamon before smearing it onto a whole wheat tortilla, and topping it with small banana.

I also had an apple (recycled photo)…

Some sugar snap peas (also a recycled photo)…

And not pictured, a dark chocolate Adora disk dipped in peanut butter. I am a PB maniac. I eat it everyday.

After work, I met up with some great friends of mine for happy hour at one of their homes. She had a wonderful spread laid out of some of my favorite snacks: veggies and hummus, chips and salsa, cheese and crackers, chocolate, and of course, red wine. I didn’t snap any photos because I was caught up in conversation and tasty treats. We were even able to enjoy the beautiful weather outside on her deck. I had an amazing time and hope we can do it more often! Love you ladies. :wink:

On the way home, I made an impulse decision to veer my car into the Dairy Queen drive thru. It has been a very long time since I have had a blizzard and ya know what? I wanted an ice cream treat. I picked myself up my favorite kind which is double fudge cookie dough, and got Dana a caramel delight pie blizzard.

As you can see, I am slightly excited for what’s to come.

I LOVE ICE CREAM. This tasted better than ever. Oh, how I’ve missed you soft serve. Welcome back to my life.

Dinner was a little “unconventional” tonight, but it sure was tasty. I enjoyed every second of my evening.

The rest of the night was spent organizing a couple of things in the basement (electric is being installed in the bathroom downstairs today) and relaxing with the boys.

Happy Friday the 13th! Dun dun dun…..

Oreo Ice Cream Cake

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Happy Easter!

I wasn’t able to sleep very well last night or this morning so I decided that I may as well get up and get crackin’ so that I could wish you all a happy day, and share a nummy dessert with you.

I have plans to go to church this morning, then head over to my mom and dad’s for an Easter celebration. We have planned a menu of course, and on it is:

  • Ham
  • Steak
  • Parmesan Potatoes
  • Roasted Broccoli
  • Deviled Eggs
  • Fruit Salad
  • Dinner Rolls
  • And dessert (which I’ll get to hopefully tomorrow)
I am very excited to be with my family today.
*********

Let’s back track for a bit shall we to last night, because we had a wonderful time celebrating Easter with Dana’s parents. Dana’s mom made us a wonderful ham that wasn’t overly salty and had the perfect amount of sweet glaze. On the side, she made her famous cheesy vegetables (need to get that recipe), diced fresh fruit, and dinner rolls.

For dessert, Sue put me in charge. Yesterday afternoon, I ran to the store and bought three ingredients:

1. Cookies n’ Cream Ice Cream

2.Reduced Fat Oreos

3. Chocolate Syrup

When I got home I left the ice cream out on the counter to defrost as I began food processing about two rows of Oreos. I placed about 2/3 of the processed Oreos into a bowl and added a few squirts of spray butter.

I then pressed the crushed oreos into the bottom of a cake pan, lined with saran wrap. I spread one layer of chocolate syrup on top of the crushed Oreos, and spread it into a layer.

Next, I scooped the defrosted ice cream on top of the Oreos and spread into an even layer. I then sprinkled more crushed oreos, this time in bigger pieces onto the top of the ice cream. I finished it with one more swirl of chocolate syrup.

I wrapped it up in the saran wrap, and placed into the freezer to mold into it’s new shape.

Once it was dessert time, I removed it from the freezer, unwrapped it from the saran wrap, and sliced into cake-like pieces. I neglected to take a photo of my piece of ice cream cake because I was extremely excited about eating ice cream and completely forgot. After I demolished my piece, I then remembered I wanted to take a photo.

This dessert was on point. I don’t know if it was because I hadn’t eaten a dessert in a month and a half, or if it was just truly that good, or maybe a combo of the two, but this tasted so incredible to me. It brought me back to elementary school days and dirt cups at lunch. Remember the dirt cups with chocolate pudding, crushed Oreos, and gummy worms?

If you are even in a time crunch (or not), I would highly recommend making this cool dessert. I spent around $9.00 on the whole pan, and I was able to buy reduced fat ingredients to help curve the fat content slightly. I like being in control. Num.

Alright, off to cut coupons, shower, and get ready for Easter Mass. Have a beautiful day.